Bobbin grip assembly for loom shuttles



Oct. so, 1956 L. vl s coLosl 2,768,650

BOBBIN .GRIP ASSEMBLY FOR LOOM SHUTTLES Filed Deq. 14, 1955 2* 2 2 FIG.! 2 5A 4 FIG. 4

IN V EN TOR.

LOUIS VISOOLOSI ATTORNEY United States Patent r BOBBIN GRIP ASSEMBLY FOR LOOM SHUTTLES Louis Viscolosi, Providence, R. 1.

Application December 14, 195% Serial No. 553,003

3 Claims. (Cl. 139-207) This invention relates to loom shuttles and more particularly to the bobbin-positioning devices for shuttles of weft replenishing looms. Such shuttles are commonly equipped with opposed resilient jaws at one end of the bobbin cavity. The inner faces of these jaws are pro vided with several substantially vertical elongated recesses or indentations adapted to receive circumferential ribs (usually steel rings) on the bobbin butt so that, when the bobbin butt is gripped between the jaws with its ribs or rings seated in the recesses or indentations of the jaws, the axis of the bobbin will substantially coincide with the longitudinal axis of the shuttle and the bobbin will be held firmly in place.

In order to insure proper registry of the bobbin rings with the recesses in the shuttle jaws, it is necessary accurately to position the bobbin lengthwise of the shuttle as the bobbin is driven down between the jaws by the deli hammer in replenishing. To this end it is common to provide the shuttle with an abutment having a substantially vertical face so located that by engagement with the end surface of a bobbin butt of standard dimension it will bring the rings on the butt into proper position to register with the recesses in the jaws. There is also provided an inclined guide element leading downwardly toward the upper end of this abutment, so that it the bobbin is not initially positioned properly longitudinally of the shuttle, it will slide along this guide as it is driven down by the dofi hammer, until at the end of its downward travel its end surface will be in position to engage the abutment member.

While in theory this arrangement should produce the results desired, it is not always to be depended upon, particularly when, through wear or otherwise, the bobbin butts are not all of exactly the standard or proper length, for if the butts are not exactly the right length, the abutment member no longer cooperates to position them accurately with reference to the grooves or recesses in the shuttle jaws. Bobbins thus improperly positioned are not firmly gripped by the jaws, and sometimes .fiy out of the shuttle, producing pick-outs and waste of filling, or may cause the shuttle to be thrown out of the loom, to the great danger of the operator, or may result in smashes and costly injury to the woven web or to the loom itself.

Moreover, due to the sharpness and almost instantaneous character of the blow imparted to the bobbin butt by the dofi hammer, the inertia of the parts tends to prevent the bobbin from moving longitudinally with the requisite speed when it engages the guide, and it strikes the guide with great force, frequently chipping or splitting the bobbin butt, deforming the rings, or bending the guide.

My Patent Number 2,033,498 which issued on March 10, 1936, was designed to avoid the above difliculties, and in particular to provide the shuttle with bobbin-positioning means of such a nature as automatically to compensate for slight variations in the length of the bobbin butt and to insure proper seating of the bobbin ribs'or rings in the jaws of the shuttle, and at the same achieves these results. I

2,768,650 Patented Oct. 30, 1956 time to cushion the force of the blow imparted by the dotf hammer to the bobbin, thereby to avoid injury to the bobbin and other parts, and to insure a smoother operation of the replenishing mechanism, as for example by making it possible to reduce the weight of the blow of the doff hammer.

To that end my patent provided for the use of a combined bobbin guide and abutment mounted for limited longitudinal movement within the end of the bobbin cavity, such guide and abutment being urged toward normal operative position by a spring but being yieldable away from such position when impacted by a bobbin. By the use of that construction, the first impact of the bobbin butt upon the guide causes the latter to yield longitudinally, thus cushioning the force of the impact, but as the bobbin nears the end of its downward movement the spring becomes eifective to restore the abutment and guide to normal position, and in doing so causes the abutment to position the bobbin longitudinally of the bobbin cavity, so that the ribs or rings on the bobbin butt are accurately registered with and seat in the recesses of the jaws. The length of travel of the abutment is such as to permit it to engage with and properly to locate butts of less than normal or proper length, and by reason of the yielding character of the abutment the ribs or rings of an unusually long bobbin butt may likewise be properly engaged with the recesses of the jaws, without danger of ejection of the bobbin from the shuttle,

as might occur if a fixed abutment were employed.

After prolonged use it was discovered that the construction shown in Patent 412,033,498 contained an inherent deficiency. That deficiency caused the cnnstruction to lose the effectiveness of the objects it sought to obtain.

A bobbin is replaced in the loom shuttle many times in an hour. Each bobbin replacement caused two actuations of the bobbin guide and abutment against the tension of the spring. One actuation was for dislodging the bobbin depleted of filling yarn. The other actuation was for lodging the filling bobbin between the gripping jaws. The elongated slot in the bobbin guide caused a strain and wear on the screw fixed in the wooden bobbin which slidably held said bobbin guide in place. The screw loosened rendering the firmness of the abutment against the bobbin end impossible. The conditions necessary to achieve the desired results are an adjustable abutment, which firmly holds the bobbin in position despite rapid actuation of the shuttle and a long wear quality able to withstand many actuations of the abutment per hour over a period of months. The present invention Referring to the drawings in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view illustratingone end of a shuttle equipped with the improved guide and abutment and showing the bobbin butt in place between the shuttle jaws.

Figure 2 is a vertical section, substantially on'the line bobbin guide and abutment, assembled with the improved bobbin gripping jaws removed from the-shuttle.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates a weaving shuttle (one end only of the shuttle body being,

shown), such shuttle having a bobbin cavity 2 provided nearyone of its ends with the opposed, spaced, resilient bobbin gripping jaws 3 and 4 integrally connected by means of a U portion 20 which extends into the end portion of the bobbin body, where the jaws are spaced apartby means of a block 3A having a cut out. 23 and a:

pin receiving orifice (Figure 2). A pin receiving orifice 21. is provided in said U portion. The jaws through orifice 21. and block 3A, are anchored to the shuttle body by means of a: transverse pinor bolt 4A. The jaws 3 and 4 are intended to receive and grip between them the butt 5 of a bobbin. 6. Inorder that. the jaws may grip the bobbinI securely and may hold it in a definite fixed position within the bobbin cavity 2, their inner surfaces are provided with one or more. substantially vertical elongate. recesses or identations. 5B (Figure 2) which are adapted. to receive circumferential ribs SA on the butt 5 of the bobbin. Such ribs usually consist of steel rings embracingthe bobbin butt and'securely-fixedin position.

A guideway or channel 2A is provided in the wood of the shuttle body, extending from the bobbin cavity 2 toward'the tip of the shuttle. This guideway or channel is designed to receive a slide member 7A forming a part of my improved-bobbin-positioning device. This slide mem-- ber may, for convenience, be made from a piece of sheet metal by stamping or the like, and is provided with a reversibly bent tongue 11 for holding the slide member 7A in assembled, sliding relation to the jaws 3, 4 through a slot 12 provided in the U bend 20.

In the past, an elongated slot was provided in the sliding member 7A above tongue 11. A screw was used to pass through the slot and secure sliding member 7A to the wooden bobbin 1. The elongated slot had to provide for longitudinal movement of the slide member 7A in order to obtain the desired results. The screw anchored in the wood soon lost its binding qualities as the screw hole in the wood wore out from repeated tightenings of the screw. Thus the very object of the slide member 7A of adjustably binding the bobbin head in the shuttle cavity was lost because the bobbin head. was loosely held. This condition caused smashes in the loom.

The present invention of the tongue 11. on sliding member 7A, engaging the slot 12 in the U portion 20 of jaws 3, 4 overcomes all the deficienciesof the prior construction by providing for the necessary movement having long wearing contact surfaces in the tongue 11 and slot 12.

The left-hand end of the slide member 7A, as viewed in Figures 1, 2' and 3, preferably merges integrally into the upper end of an inclined guide member 7, which extends downwardly into the bobbin cavity 2 and into the space between the jaws 3, 4. At its lower end this inclined guide also merges, preferably integrally, into the upper end of a substantially vertical abutment member 8. The lower end of this abutment member 8 in turn is connected, preferably integrally, with a substantially horizontal foot member 13 which may, as illustrated in Figure 3, be somewhat wider than, the guide 7 and the abutment 8, and which is adapted to slide in contact with the lower edges of the jaws 3, 4. To receive this. foot and permit it to slide, the floor of the shuttle body at this point may be spaced slightly, as shown at 13A, below the lower edges of the jaws 3, 4.

An equalizer member 14 is arranged to engage the inner surface of the abutment member 8 and this equalizer member is preferably provided with a reduced portion 14A adapted to receive the convolutions of a coiled compression spring 15, the opposite end of which conveniently bears against the vertical face of block 3A and a reduced portion 38 thereon adapted to receive the convolutions of the opposite end of spring 15. 7

When the parts are assembled, the spring 15 urges the abutment 8 to the left, as viewed in Figures 1 and 2, the length of tongue 11 being such that even though a bobbin butt of abnormally short length. be introduced between the shuttle iaws, the abutment 8 will still be effective to push such butt. lengthwise until its. rings safely register,

4. with and snap into the recesses in the shuttle jaws. 0n the other hand, since the abutment 8 and the guide 7 are free to slide longitudinally in opposition to the force exerted by the spring 15, the abutment may take up such a position that an abnormally long bobbin butt may also be driven down between the jaws and assume a position such that its rings properly register with the recesses 58.

When the bobbin butt is delivered by the replenishing mechanism substantially at the position indicated at 16 in Figure 2, its continued downward movement by the doif hammer causes it to strike the inclined guide 7 and the impact of the blow causes the slide member 7A, with the guide 7 and abutment 8, to retreat slightly toward the end of the shutle, thus cushioning he blow. However, the spring 15 is quite stiff, and as the bobbin butt continues down into its final position, this spring 15 reasserts itself, and as the end of the butt comes into contact with the abutment 8, the latter acts to force the bobbin butt lengthwise of the shuttle and insure the proper registry of its rings with the jaw recesses.

Since the spring 15 may swivel or turn on the projections 14A and 3B there is no danger that the free sliding of the member 7A will be interfered with as by a cramping actiondue to the spring pressure, and thus the proper yielding of the guide 7 and the abutment 8 is assured.

Having illustrated one desirable embodiment of the invention by way of. example, I wish it to be understood that other and equivalent arrangements of parts may beemployed for the purpose without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

WhatI claim is:

l. Incombination witha shuttle having a pair of spaced resilient bobbin gripping. jaws having recesses in their inner surfaces, and a bobbin butt having an external ring designed to seat in the recesses of the opposed jaws, thereby to hold the bobbin firmly in position, an abutment member engageable by the end surface of the bobbin butt, thereby to determine the position of the bobbin lengthwise of theshuttle, said abutment being movable bodily lengthwiseof the shuttle to vary. its distance longitudinally from the recesses in the jaws, thereby to accommodate bobbin butts of different lengths, means limiting such movement of the abutment in relation to said jaws comprising a tongue andslot connection between said jaws and said abutment member, and a spring urging the abutment toward one limit of the tongue and slot connection.

2. A shuttle having a body provided with a bobbin cavity, a pair of resilient bobbin gripping jaws integrally connected by a U portion provided with a slot and located at one end of the cavity, a spacer block having a. cut

out, interposed between said jaws at said; U portion, a.

guide channel in the upper-part of the shuttle body leading from the bobbin cavity toward the tip of the shuttle, a slide member, having a reverse bend formed into a tongue, arranged in said channel, said tongue slidingly engaging said slot and said out out, a pin passing through said U portion and saidblock being secured in said body, said tongue. holding said slide member in assembled relation to said U portion and to the shuttle body but allowing limited movement of the slide member longitudinally of the shuttle, said slide member having an integral extension inclining downwardly and forming a guide leading into the space between the jaws, said extension merging with the upper end. of a substantially vertical abutment, a substantially horizontal foot at the lower end of the abutment arranged to slide in substantial contact with the lower edges of the jaws, an equalizer engaging the inner surface of the abutment, and a compression spring interposed between said equalizer and the spacer block.

3. A shuttle having a body provided with a bobbin cavity, a guide channel in the upper part of said body leading from said bobbin cavity toward the tipv of the shuttle, a, pair of resilient bobbin gripping jaws integrally.

connected by a U portion having a slot and a first pin receiving orifice, a plurality of substantially vertical elongated recesses aligned in parallel relation in the inside opposite surfaces of said bobbin gripping jaws, a spacer block having a cut out and a second pin receiving orifice interposed between said bobbin gripping jaws at said U portion, said U portion being located in said guide channel, a pin passing through said first and second pin receiving orifices and fixed in said body to secure said U portion and spacer block in said guide channel, a slide member having a tongue formed .in one end arranged to slidingly engage said slot and pas into said out out, said tongue holding said slide member in assembled relation to said pair of gripping jaws while allowing limited movement of the slide member longitudinally of said pair of gripping jaws, said slide member having an integral extension inclining downwardly and forming a guide leading References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 855,514 Jackson June 4, 1907 1,525,367 Cadonet Feb. 3, 1925 2,033,498 Viscolosi Mar. 10, 1936 2,082,678 Brierley June 1, 1937 2,089,643 Demaine Aug. 10, 1937 

